OneRepublic rocks the house at Denver Health’s annual NightShine Gala. The band donated its appearance fee back to Denver Health. (Photos by Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

Federico and Cindy Pena arrived at the 2016 NightShine Gala prepared to accept the accolades that would come their way as recipients of the Denver Health Foundation Stars award.

What he, at least, had no way of knowing is that an additional honor awaited.

When they stepped to the stage to accept their award, Pena was flabbergasted when Michael Pollak, chair of the Denver Health Foundation board, joined Denver Health & Hospital Authority board chair Rus Heise in announcing that Denver Health’s newest community clinic would be named the Federico F. Pena Family Health Center.

(We suspect that Cindy may have had an inkling; she is, after all, a member of the Denver Health Foundation board).

Federico and Cindy Peña, left, with Denver Health’s chief executive, Dr. Art Gonzalez, and his wife, Debbie. Art Gonzalez recently announced that he would retire in June.

Federico Pena, a former mayor of Denver and state legislator, served as secretary of the Department of Energy and of the Department of Transportation during the Clinton Administration. He also was a national co-chair of Obama for America 2012. Today he is senior advisor to the Colorado Impact Fund and to Vestar Capital Partners, a private equity firm with offices in New York, Boston and Denver.

Cindy Pena was recruited to serve as vice president/general manager at KMGH-Channel 7, following a 20-year career with KUSA-Channel 9. As such, she was one of the first Hispanics in the nation to be named general manager at a major market network affiliate; to this day, she was the only woman to run a network television station in Denver.

NightShine 2016 was chaired by Manuel Martinez and his wife, Pat Cortez, and Walter and Christie Isenberg. The 1,560 guests helped raise a record $1.3 million.

A partner in Bryan Cave HRO’s Denver office, Manuel Martinez is an attorney practicing in the areas of business, land use and administrative law. He is a member of the national board of Volunteers of America and served as manager of safety and director of the Department of Excise and Licenses while Federico Pena was mayor. Pat Cortez is senior vice president and manager for Wells Fargo’s community and government affairs team in Colorado and serves on the boards of numerous organizations, including the Metro Denver Chamber of Commerce Foundation, National Sports Center for the Disabled and the Latin American Educational Foundation.

Walter Isenberg is co-founder, president and chief executive officer of Sage Hospitality, which owns and operates hotels and restaurants in 18 states. A recent inductee to the Denver & Colorado Tourism Hall of Fame, he serves on the boards of Visit Denver, the Downtown Denver Partnership, the Children’s Hospital Foundation and Metropolitan State University of Denver. Christie Isenberg is president of Amp the Cause, which helps support over 40 child-focused organizations. She is on the board of National Jewish Health and the Tennyson Center.

NightShine was emceed by Les Shapiro and Lauren Whitney. Shapiro is the co-host of The Afternoon Drive with Goodman and Shapiro on Mile High Sports Radio and a contributor to Fox31 Sports, appearing every Sunday night. Whitney is a weather anchor at CBS4 Denver and a coach for Girls on the Run.

Lauren Whitney holds a guitar auctioned by Shawn Hagler, later to be signed by the members of OneRepublic.

NightShine, held at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center, began with a cocktail hour where guests could sample an abundant array of hors d’oeuvres while enjoying the music of the Denver Health band, Healers and Hellraisers. Members of that group include the hospital’s chief executive, Dr. Art Gonzalez, who will be retiring in June.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock, and his wife, Mary Louise Lee.

Gov. John Hickenlooper and Denver Mayor Michael Hancock were among those attending NightShine, joining a group that also included former Mayor Wellington Webb and his wife, Wilma; Paula Herzmark, executive director of the Denver Health Foundation; CBS4 general manager Walt DeHaven and his wife, Wendy Aiello; Denver Health Foundation board members Steve Farber, Mike Ferrufino, Josh Hanfling and Charlie Walling; Libby Anschutz and fiance Jeff Allen; Evi and Evan Makovski with their daughter and son-in-law, Dorit and Aryeh Fischer; Denver Health’s former chief, Dr. Patricia Gabow, and her husband, Dr. Hal Gabow; Drs. Ron and Sue Townsend; Wil and Roz Alston; Nancy Levine and hubby Dan Obarski; and Gov. Hickenlooper’s chief of staff, Doug Friednash. with his mom, Zelda.

In addition to hearing the traditional “Merry Christmas” or “happy holidays,” guests at Gov. John Hickenlooper’s annual yuletide gathering got a bit of a surprise: he’s got a girlfriend.

While Hickenlooper made no formal announcement at the Wednesday cocktail party held in the Governor’s Mansion, several of the guests were quick to let The Denver Post know that the governor had introduced Robin Pringle to them as his girlfriend.

“As they say, good news travels fast,” he responded to our request for confirmation. “Yes, I have been dating a young woman named Robin Pringle. We met more than a year ago, but only started dating some months ago, almost, as sometimes happens, by accident.”

Hickenlooper and author Helen Thorpe, whom he married in 2002, have been separated since July, 2012. The parting was amicable; in their announcement they stated: “Please feel free to include both of us in social gatherings as we will not find it awkward.”

Thorpe has been dating as well. She has been seen lately at events like the Museum of Contemporary Arts Luminocity Gala, where she held hands with Sascha Steinway.

Pringle is vice president/corporate development for Englewood-based Liberty Media. According to her profile on LinkedIn, she earned a bachelor of arts degree in public policy from Duke University in 2000 and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2008.

The governor, 62, concluded in his email to the Post, “Robin and I now feel comfortable sharing the fact that we are dating, but like any couple that is embarking on a new relationship, we are asking that our privacy be respected.

“And yes, she is pretty great.”

Hickenlooper was elected to a second term as Colorado governor in November. Inaugural activities Jan. 13 include a sold-out concert with the Lumineers and other bands at the Ogden Theatre, a dinner at the Fillmore Auditorium and a ceremony at the State Capitol.

In the tape, Owens named three definitive beliefs a fashion show should be built upon (and she’s right – Denver, listen up):

1). Production and entertainment: what does it take to produce a high quality event?2). Fashion: what styles or collections are being presented, and why?3). Business: where and how can I buy these pieces?

For “Fierce in the City,” Owens’ took production value seriously, and it showed.

She presented four – yes, four – different collections of her own, and all four were ready-to-wear: there was a 2014 Fall/Winter collection, a Spring/Summer collection for 2015, a Cosmopolitan collection, and evening wear.

Owens’ seasonal styles were show-stealers, with lively pieces that exuded youthfulness, grace, and personality, with patterns and fits that seemed to reflect the sophistication and elegance of Diane Von Furstenberg designs.

Anna and John Sie accept the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award. (Special to The Denver Post)

Anna and John J. Sie received the Josef Korbel Humanitarian Award in recognition of their extensive philanthropy; Jeffrey R. Tarr, chief executive officer and president of Longmont-based DigitalGlobe was given the International Bridge Builders Award for his work building ties between Colorado and the international community.

Christopher Hill, dean of DU’s Josef Korbel School of International Studies, described the Sies as “True pillars of the community. They have used their acumen and their passion in ways that have benefited many people and organizations here in Colorado and around the globe.”

In accepting the award, John Sie said that he and his wife “Believe that robust relations amongst nations, based on mutual respect, mutual understanding, and mutual trust is the cornerstone for world peace and prosperity.

“The Korbel School, under the leadership of Dean Christopher Hill, is the full embodiment of that.” Before coming to DU in 2010, Hill served as a U.S. Ambassador to Macedonia, Poland, Korea and Iraq.

John Sie was the founder and chairman of Starz Entertainment Group. Their family foundation supports the sharing of knowledge among peoples and cultures around the world, with an emphasis on Down syndrome, international security and diplomacy, education, media, business and technology.

The day after the Korbel Dinner, there was a ceremonial groundbreaking for the Anna and John J. Sie International Relations Complex at DU, made possible by a $17 million gift from the Anna and John J. Sie Foundation. Their earlier gift of $5.5 million established the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security and Diplomacy in honor of John Sie’s father, a distinguished Chinese diplomat.

Under Jeffrey Tarr’s leadership, Hill noted, DigitalGlobe’s products and services have come to serve as a vital resource for humanitarian aid providers, public safety organizations and others in making critical decisions.

Tarr praised Hill, and the Korbel School of International Studies. “Your presence here is supporting an important cause, educating future leaders committed to international foreign service, international commerce, world peace and security for all of us,” he said.

2014 Athena Award recipient Sheila Gutterman with her husband, Dr. Gary Gutterman, and their son, Steve. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

Attorney Sheila Gutterman, known in legal circles as the “Mother of Collaborative Law,” is the recipient of the 2014 Athena Award, which is given annually by the Colorado Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

The recipient must exemplify exceptional professional achievement and show devotion to community service and generosity in assisting other women in their attainment of professional excellence and leadership skills.

Gutterman, who became an attorney following a successful career as an event planner, is the co-founder and president of Gutterman Griffiths, which specializes in family law.

“One woman can make a difference,” Gutterman said as she accepted the award, “but women supporting women can change the world.”

Gutterman is membership chair of the Colorado Judicial Institute. The Colorado Women’s Chamber has previously included her on its list of Denver’s 25 Most Powerful Women and honored her with its Lifetime Achievement Award.

Other nominees were Laura Davis, director of environmental, health and safety and system safety for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.; Carla Dore, president/CEO of Workplace Resource; Ellen Golombek, executive director of the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment; Suzanne Griffiths, vice president/shareholder/co-founder of Gutterman Griffiths; Julia Hutchins, CEO of Colorado HealthOP; Sharon Knight, president/CEO of Warren Village; Patricia Ladewig, provost at Regis University; Heather Lafferty, CEO and executive director at Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver; Janet Lowe, senior vice president and director of Vectra Wealth Management; Denise Maes, director of public policy for the ACLU; Kathy Mayer, service line director for Flight for Life Colorado; Jodi Rolland, Denver market president and Colorado state president for Bank of America and managing director of Heartland Market for Merrill Lynch; Joyce Schlose, vice president of workforce development for Goodwill Industries of Denver; and Lynne Valencia, vice president/community relations for Gannett/KUSA-TV.

Ellen Golombek, Deborah Brackney and Sharon Knight were all nominated for the 2014 Athena Award. (Steve Peterson, Special to The Denver Post)

The event held at the Hyatt Regency Convention Center began with cocktails, a silent auction and vocals by Hazel Miller.

9News reporter TaRhonda Thomas did a great job as mistress of ceremonies, but leave it to a man — Murugan Palani from Premier Sponsor Excel Energy — to crack everyone up.

Palani, who had the honor of announcing who the 2014 Athena Award recipient would be, confessed that he had mentioned the gala to one of his female co-workers. “She told me to see how many red-soled shoes I could count. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I Googled red-soled shoes … and found out she was talking about (pricey) Christian Louboutins!”

2013 Athena Award recipient Elbra Wedgeworth was the keynote speaker, sharing how her humble beginnings had not interfered with her quest for success. A former president of the Denver City Council and one of those responsible for bringing the Democratic National Convention to Denver, Wedgeworth is now a senior executive with Denver Health.

The Athena Awards Gala also was the occasion to present the Florence Caldwell Achievement Scholarship to Sarah Martinez, a senior at Erie High School. The scholarship covers tuition, books and fees for four years at Colorado School of Mines and is valued at $71,940.

Martinez plans to study chemical engineering at Mines.

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock stopped by to offer his congratulations to the nominees and to thank an audience that included Maureen Barker, Jean Galloway, Joyce Lozow, Sharon Linhart and Genia Larson for supporting the cause.

The Cancer Treatment Centers of America were the gala’s Platium Sponsor and were represented by Jaci Brown and Lisa Lantz.

“It’s Not A Laughing Matter” will take place at the Denver Marriott South, 10345 Park Meadows Drive, Lone Tree. John Kelley,chairman and CEO of CereScan, is the honorary corporate chairman and CBS4’s Ed Greene will be master of ceremonies.

In addition to the awards presentation, the evening will include entertainment by comedian Ross Bennett and a live auction called by Adam Kevil.

Tickets, available online, are $80 for regular seating; $150 for premiere seating and $60 for young professionals.

Football fans know the public side of Shannon Sharpe as well as they do the backs of their hands: Twelve seasons with the Denver Broncos, two with the Baltimore Ravens, three Super Bowl wins, election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and an NFL record-holder, until 2008, for having the most receptions, receiving yards and receiving touchdowns by a tight end.

What they might not know is what the late radio commentator Paul Harvey would have described as “the rest of the story:” How growing up poor shaped his future and how he credits his grandmother with making him the man he is today.

“Everything I am is because of my grandmother,” Sharpe told the 750 who’d gathered at the Hyatt Regency Tech Center for The Journey, a dinner and auction put on by the Junior League of Denver. The money raised supports the JLD’s ongoing efforts to increase literacy rates in the metro Denver area.

Sharpe revealed that he didn’t learn to read until he was in his early teens and thus supports groups like the JLD as they work to make sure that children have the opportunity and tools to learn how to read at an early age.

The league will also start creating Little Free Libraries in the Denver area — a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. “In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book or two and bring back another book to share,” explains JLD president Lisa Lumley.

Mari Marsico and Allie Ingalls chaired The Journey. Special guests included Denver Mayor Michael Hancock and two of Sharpe’s former teammates, Reggie Rivers and Le-Lo Lang.

Debutante Rachel Robinson made this Elizabethan gown from Coca-Cola cans. (Courtesy of the Robinson family)

Rachel Robinson models the dress she fashioned in honor of Valentine’s Day. It’s made from Twizzlers and lollipops. (Courtesy of the Robinson family)

Rachel Robinson can make a dress from just about anything: Coca-Cola cans, Twizzlers, lollipops …

And she has, as the photos here attest.

The Elizabethan gown that she crafted from Coca-Cola cans is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art and will also be mentioned in a feature story about her in the April/May edition of Colorado Expression magazine. She used Twizzlers and heart-shaped lollipops to fashion a red dress in honor of Valentine’s Day.

Fashion design isn’t just a passing fancy for the daughter of John and Lisa Robinson of Greenwood Village; Rachel is planning to further develop her talent by enrolling at Savannah College of Art and Design following her graduation from Kent Denver School.

Robinson, who is part of the Robinson Dairy family and co-founder of the Kent Denver Fashion Club, also is one of 30 young ladies who will be presented at the 59th Denver Debutante Ball to be held Dec. 22 at the Brown Palace Hotel.

The debutante Class of 2014 gathered for the first time when Betty Lynn Jackson opened her home for the traditional Announcement Tea.

“We have an incredible group of artists, scholars, sportswomen and student government leaders,” observes ball chair Meg Nichols. “I am so proud of every single one of them.”

Robinson’s classmate, Kent Denver’s all-school president Ellery Jones, also is a 2014 debutante. The daughter of April and Darryl Jones of Greenwood Village, Ellery is a member of the Diversity Awareness Club, the Kent Denver Blue Key Club and a volunteer for Zion Mountain Ministry for Autistic Children.

Ferrandino was honored for championing passage of the Colorado Civil Union Act in 2013, making Colorado one of 20 states, plus the District of Columbia, to offer recognition to same-sex couples.

Metropolitan State University of Denver, along with its president, Stephen Jordan, and board chair Robert Cohen, were honored for having led MSU to provide access to higher education for undocumented students, which ultimately helped pave the way for the Colorado Legislature to pass the ASSET Bill in 2013.

Drawing on a quote from the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. — “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice” — ADL’s regional director, Scott Levin, noted that Ferrandino, Jordan and Cohen were all people who worked tirelessly to bend the arc just a little closer to justice.

Ferrandino was introduced by Fran and Anna Simon, one of the first Colorado couples to celebrate a civil union on the night the law went into effect. In giving thanks for the award, Ferrandino observed that “If ADL is behind me, I know I’m doing the right thing.”

Jordan and Cohen, who were introduced by a current MSU student who has been a beneficiary of the tuition reduction, said they viewed the university’s decision to offer a reduced tuition rate as simply “the right thing to do.”

The event was co-chaired by ADL Civil Rights Committee leaders Daniel McKenzie, Monica Rosenbluth and Holly Stein Sollod. Over 160 civic leaders and community members were in attendance.

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

Citizen of the Arts Jim Steinberg and Lori Watson. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)

The Fine Arts Foundation scored a number of firsts by naming Jim Steinberg Citizen of the Arts for 2014.

Steinberg, of Steamboat Springs, is the first non-Denver metro area resident to receive the honor. He is also the first photographer to hold the title. And, he is the first recipient to have made significant contributions to the performing arts both in Colorado and New York.

Nominated by 2012 Citizen of the Arts Judi Wolf, Steinberg is the president and chief executive officer of Steinberg Photography and has spent the past 40 years traveling the world to create award-winning images. Portfolio Publications, of which he is also president/CEO, is a company dedicated to the publication of regional Colorado books, calendars and cards.

Steve Edmonds co-chaired the dinner honoring the 2014 Citizen of the Arts. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)

His work has been published in major magazines and 50 books. It has been recognized through such honors as the World Environmental Photography Award and The Denver Post’s Ovation Award. Steinberg also is the recipient of a Rotary Foundation Humanitarian Service Award and a Colorado Book Award.

The dinner at which he was given the 2014 Citizen of the Arts Award was held Jan. 31 at the Westin Denver Downtown. Susan Stiff and Steve Edmonds were the chairmen; Jane Wiltshire and Paula Law chaired the silent auction and Kent Thompson, who heads the Denver Center Theatre Company, was master of ceremonies.

Entertainment included readings by members of the DCTC and Curious Theatre Company; performances by Jason Edwards, who has toured with Larry Gatlin in “The Will Rogers Follies” and was in the original Broadway cast of “Ring of Fire,” and Phillip Hernandez.

Hernandez is the only man in Broadway history to have played both Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert in “Les Miserables.” He made his Broadway debut in the original cast of the Tony Award-winning musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” For his appearance at the Citizen of the Arts Dinner he was accompanied by Jeremy Wall, a founding member of the Grammy-nominated jazz fusion group Spiro Gyra.

Lynn Cahen, left, and Lynn Hinkle are co-presidents of the Fine Arts Foundation. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)

Following a silent auction social, guests sat down to a dinner billed as a “Celebration of Colorado Culinary Arts.”

Steinberg will be introduced again on June 21 when the Fine Arts Foundation stages its annual debutante ball.

Proceeds from the ball are distributed, in the form of cash grants, to various nonprofit cultural arts organizations in the greater Denver area. There were 21 recipients in 2013, including the Denver Film Society, Phamaly Theatre Company, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, Wonderbound, Young Voices of Colorado and the Clyfford Still Museum.

L-R: Marlis Smith, who in 1989 was the first Citizen of the Arts; his wife, Shirley Shields Smith, the 2013 Citizen of the Arts, and Paul Scheele, whose wife, Julia, was on the dinner committee. (David Zalubowski, Special to The Denver Post)